Baldur

"Snowmen huh... hopefully we don't run into any of those <<Giant Ice Spiders>> I heard about."

Baldur held back a smile as he held onto Tyger.

"I have complete faith in you pretty lady." He opened and closed his free hand. "I just can't wait to get my hands on a real Katana. I can't tell you how happy I am to know those are in the game." The familiar feel of that weapon... he wouldn't feel complete until he had mastered it.

"But first we need to get out of scrub land and get to the point where we can help out the people on the frontier, even if we don't quite make it into the assault team just yet. I can't believe we're already about to open up the 10th floor. The first floor seemed to take forever!"

Baldur shook his head when she asked if he needed anything.

"No, since I didn't use any healing pots I bought for the Wasp Queen, I still have them handy." 

He rubbed her arm with the one around her, trying to give her some warmth. It didn't feel like the friction was doing much, but when he held her close, he could feel her warmth.

"Let's go ice this guy."

"Cool!" Baldur said in English.

He looked around at this point and saw how pretty the snow covered cottage town looked. It seemed like something out of a painting, or a Christmas card.

"We should come back here some time, this floor is beautiful! Maybe we could have a date night out here after we spend some col on really thick clothing." He blew his breath onto his gloves, wondering if they would warm him.

"So another big field boss? Cool! Do we have to farm wasps again, or are we gonna fight snow men or something?"

Baldur had been right behind Tyger at the teleport gate, so he had assumed a funny flexing pose when he told the gate where he was going. When he materialized, he had assumed the pose from this really old classic anime she had loved. One arm was curled around behind him, and the other was curled up to his forehead as if he were hitting himself. When he materialized onto the floor, he called out her name and then gave her his best smoulder.

"Did someone call for a furnace?" He could no longer maintain the face, and instead broke out into a smile at her nickname for him. When the nights had been cold, she had always held him tighter for warmth. For whatever reason, in the real world, he had always run warm.

Baldur smiled at how sleepy she was. Her words mumbled together occasionally, but he had been with her long enough that he could understand her pillow talk. At least her phone wasn't breathing.

"Yea we really did." He smiled. He didn't know how she got into bed so quickly, but she already looked so comfy laying there.

"Just don't kill me with your mind, and we'll be good." He smiled and made a swipe at the air with two of his fingers to bring up the menu so he could unequip his armor. As  he did so, the weight of the day finally came crashing down onto him.

"But first sleep. Tomorrow victory, but for now... pillows." With one smooth motion, he slipped into the covers, put his head on the pillow, put an arm around Tyger, and was gone.

THREAD COMPLETE

QUEST <<LONG LIVE THE QUEEN>> COMPLETE

(First Completion for both characters)

Wind Wasp #1 - 40 Col + 1 Mat

Wind Wasp #2 - 40 Col + 2 Mats

Wind Wasp #3 - 40 Col + 2 Mats

Wind Wasp #4 - 1 Mat

Wind Wasp #5 - 40 Col + 1 Mat

Wind Wasp #6 - 40 Col + 2 Mats

The Wasp Queen - 150 Col + 2 Mats 

2 Pages/40 Posts = 800 Col

Completed RP - 1 Skill Point

Completed Quest - 3 Skill Points, <<Matriarch's Stinger>>

Baldur Gains - 575 Col, 4 Skill Points, and <<Matriarch's Stinger>> (gives his share of mats to Tyger)

Tyger Gains - 575 Col, 4 Skill Points, 11 Mats, and <<Matriarch's Stinger>>

He leaned his head against hers as they walked, their pace a bit slower now that they were in sight of the village. He led her over to the teleportation gate and never once let go of her head.

"Let's go home, my ginger Tyger." He smiled at her.

"Town of Beginnings!" He called out and was enveloped by the white light of the teleportation, and when sight returned to him, they were in the massive square of the town on the first floor. Where her shop was. Where their home was.

Their home.

They were in this together.

That thought made him smile.

Baldur smiled as she tossed him a bone, but he just held her hand as they walked back towards the village. He whipped his blade to the side in a practiced motion and then sheathed it.

"We got some good loot off of that Wasp Queen, but I already have the best loot drop in the game." He squeezed her hand firmly and then snaked his around around her so she could lean her head on his shoulder as they walked. It felt good to him that in some small way, she still needed him. She was going to be on the front lines soon, he had no doubt about that. She was going to make a name for herself. Maybe they would even be able to get into a good guild. He felt like they were well onto their way to achieving that.

"You were great today babe. You proved to me that together, we can accomplish anything. And that we're finally ready to move onto some of the higher level floors."

I know where you're going with this, and I like it, but as cool of an idea as it is, because of the system we have, there are only a handful of options that could be made, and then it becomes exponentially more difficult for new players to create them.

I think just having a sword skill system of moves like in the anime would go a long way towards filling the desire to have something like this. If I'm not mistake, the GMs are working on a system, I just have no idea if/when we're going to see it.

Baldur bit back a laugh by biting his tongue. She had done so well, he could hardly deflate her moment. While she had been fighting the <<Wasp Queen>>, her red hair flying about, it had almost seemed a nimbus of ginger energy had surrounded her for a moment. She was beautiful in battle.

"censored bees, Indeed." He held back the laughter and instead directed a proud smile to her. They had no only emerged from this alive, but unharmed. This was an incredible victory for the two of them. They had triumphed over their first boss.

Once again, Baldur held up his fist for her to bump, and then exploded it just like she had the Wasp Queen.

"You rock babe. In fact, I'd say you were the bees knees."

His eyes sparkled with mischief. 

Baldur's eyes opened wide, impressed, as Tyger took the wasp to the ground and wailed on it. He ran forward, but as he slashed at the wasp, it wrenched itself free of her pinning attack as his blade struck the ground with an explosion of dirt.

"Gah!" Baldur cursed, his blow would have finished it off, but instead the Wasp Queen reared up and jammed its stinger into Tyger. It looked like it would have hurt, but she shrugged it off like nothing. This was so much better than when they had first started out. Maybe they really could be part of the Assault team!

[iD: 7466 BD: 2 (+2 ACC = 4)

<Tyger> 

<Wasp Queen> 

<Baldur> Misses

<Tyger> 14/15

<Wasp Queen> 4/30

<Baldur> 15/15

Baldur hooted and cheered as Tyger landed a critical to regain the attention of the wasp queen and watched her health tick back up to full.

"This is why having a tank is awesome!" He smiled. She was invincible.

"You got this!" He cheered her on. The Wasp Queen couldn't seem to figure out which one to attack.

As it turned to face Tyger, it left itself exposed to Baldur's follow up and he slashed at its wings, the pale blue light striking through the bee and shaving off more hitpoints. They had it down to about two thirds of its last HP bar already.

[iD: 7463 BD: 7]

<Tyger> 

<The Wasp Queen> 

<Baldur> Hits Wind Wasp Queen for 5 DMG

<Tyger> 15/15

<The Wasp Queen> 10/30

<Baldur> 15/15

After Baldur had landed his hit, the Wasp Queen had turned her ire on him. Her giant stinger was suddenly coming at him with a surprising speed, but suddenly Baldur felt himself sprawling out onto the ground. Was it another wasp? Was she summoning guards? As he looked up to see what hit him, he saw Tyger take the blow meant for him from the Queen. Her HP bar barely moved with the damage. Quickly pushing himself to his feet, Baldur ran around Tyger's shield side and slashed into the Wasp Queen, it was a solid blow but not a critical. As it was, if she could keep taking the blows for them, they would able to whittle her down in no time. He kept running past her to try and get around behind it.

[iD: 7461 BD: 4 (+2 ACC = 6)]

<Tyger> 

<The Wasp Queen> 

<Baldur> Hits Wind Wasp Queen for 5 DMG

<Tyger> 14/15

<The Wasp Queen> 20/30

<Baldur> 15/15

Baldur's eyes widened. He figured the Wasp Queen would be big, but he didn't realize how big. Her stinger was easily the side of his forearm.

"That is one BIG wasp."

Undeterred, Baldur followed Tyger in her charge, and while the wasp was able to swerve out of the way of her blade, he was able to follow it up and his azure strike cut through the Wasp Queen.

Paying close attention he tried to figure how much he hurt it. His strike didn't seem to be a crit, and of the two HP bars the Wasp Queen had, his strike seemed to take about a third of its first bar off. This shouldn't be too hard at all!

"We can do this!"

[iD: 7458 BD: 4 (+2 ACC = 6)]

<Tyger> 

<The Wasp Queen> 

<Baldur> Hits Wind Wasp Queen for 5 DMG

<Tyger> 15/15

<The Wasp Queen> 25/30

<Baldur> 15/15

Smiled and moved up to Tyger, wrapping his left arm around her and pulling her in close for a hug while he kept his sword in his right hand and pointed carefully away from her.

"I think you've offended the system. It keeps looking for a Bee Queen to spawn, and it's not finding anything. Maybe if you admitted we were committing genocide against wasps, then the Wasp Queen would spawn." He smiled down at her playfully, his blue eyes twinkling as they looked down into hers.

They needed to wait for more <<Wind Wasps>> to respawn, so he took this moment just enjoy that smile of hers.

"AS YOU WISH!" Baldur bum rushed the bee, putting his shoulder into it and knocking it back even as he brought his sword up from below and slashed the bee as it was still falling backwards. It exploded into shards of light in a pretty little firework display.

"I say, my dear, you are quite the invincible tank. I really think this is working out well. Together, we're practically invincible!"

Even as he said it though, he really was impressed with just how... undefeatable she was. Her HP would occasionally dip down low, but there she was, still at full health, while he probably would have been at half or lower by now. His build might work out in the long run, but he certainly wouldn't be able to gamble this way if it wasn't for her.

Baldur flashed her a smile, and then gave her a fencer's salute with his sword. With his free hand, he tapped the item window and looted the wasp, taking their Col and the two mats it dropped. This would help a lot, especially as her smithing got higher in level she needed more and more mats to fill the void.

[iD: 7448 BD: 5 (+2 ACC = 7) LD: 19]

<Wasp 6> Drops 40 Col & 2 mats

<Tyger> 

<Baldur> Hit's the WASP for 5 DMG

<Tyger> 15/15

<Wasp 6> 0/8

<Baldur> 15/15

Baldur followed Tyger's lead as she rapped her sword against her shield in order to grab its attention and then beat it over the head with her sword while Baldur ran around behind it into a flanking position, and just after she cut it, he sliced through the creature and watched the shower of polygons fall to the ground between them. As the be disappeared, it revealed Baldur smiling at Tyger with that big lopsided grin of his.

"Hey Bee-utiful."

He winked at her and then looked around for their next opponent. They had somehow moved quite far from the path they had been on and were now much deeper into the woods than they had started.

"Hopefully that bugger will show its face soon"

[iD: 7446 BD: 5 (+2 Acc = 7) LD: 13]

<Tyger> 

<WASP 5> Drops 40 Col & 1 Mat

<Baldur> Hits <<Wind WASP #5>> for 5 DMG

<Tyger> 15/15

<WASP 5> 0/8

<Baldur> 15/15

Baldur ran forward, trying to be all fancy again and show off for his girl, he leaped into the air, spinning and trying to slash at the <<Wind Wasp #4>> like some kind of Jedi, but the wasp just moved slightly out of the way and Baldur's sword hit nothing but the air.

"censored" He said as he landed, blushing slightly from embarrassment, but a smile still on his face. This is what he had imagined when they had first bought the game. The two of them, back to back, fighting mobs and invincible.

[iD: 7444 BD: 3]

<Tyger> 

<Wasp 5> 

<Baldur> Misses

<Tyger> 14/15

<Wasp 5> 8/8

<Baldur> 15/15

"Buzz off, Bug brain, she's mine!" Baldur called out as he rushed the bee, his <<Hell Fang>> slicing a azure arc through the air and the bee.

As his sword bisected the insect, He saw it's health drop all the way into the yellow. It seemed his base damage was enough to do about half it's health, but his critical hits weren't enough to one shot it yet. He was disappointed, he really wanted to be able to one shot them. He wondered if maybe there was some kind of anti-wasp weaponry which could be forged.

"The information broker didn't say. She just said that they were out here farming them, and that eventually the <<Wind Wasp Queen>> spawned."

[iD: 7442 BD: 4 (+2 Acc = 6)]

<Tyger> 

<Wasp 4> 

<Baldur> Hits <<Wind Wasp #4>> for 5 DMG

<Tyger> 15/15

<Wasp 4> 3/8

<Baldur> 15/15

Tyger called out for him to finished off the wasp and he sure as hell wasn't going to disappoint her.

"ORKIN MAAAAAAAAN" Baldur cried out as he ran up towards the wasp and leaped into the air, his sword slashing down in contrapose. The <<Wind Wasp #3>> shattered into polygons. A small icon appeared in the bottom left of Baldur's field of vision and he tapped it, accepting the Col and multiple mats.

"This should help quite a bit with your shop. How are you doing on mats?"

[iD: 7440 BD: 5 (+2 Acc = 7) LD: 20]

<Tyger> 

<Bee 3> Drops 40 Col & 2 Mats

<Baldur> Hits the bee for 5 DMG

<Tyger> 15/15

<Bee 3> 0/8

<Baldur> 15/15

Baldur eyed <<Wind WASP #3>> as it stung his girlfriend with it's meat cleaver sized stinger.

"If it was a bee, it would already be dead."

He swung at it, but the wasp floated and bobbed out of the way of his blade.

"Wasps are just there to ruin your day." He said through gritted teeth, annoyed at himself for missing.

[iD: 7434 BD: 1]

<Tyger>

<Bee 3> 

<Baldur> Misses

<Tyger> 14/15

<Bee 3> 8/8

<Baldur> 15/15

As the bee attacked Baldur, he leaped back as Tyger charged it.

"AIYAH!" Baldur cried out as he stamped his foot with his lunge as the scimitar darted out and struck the exposed underbelly. There was another loud whip crack sound and a concussion of air as Baldur must have crit again, watching the bee -wasp, it was a wasp - watching the wasp shatter into polygons.

"Actually, babe, they're <<Wind Wasps>> not bees...."

He gave her a smile and looked around to see if any more were coming for them.

[iD: 7427 BD: 10 LD: 18]

<Tyger> 

<Bee 2>  - drops 40 Col & 2 Mats

<Baldur> Deals 7 DMG to <<Wind WASP #2>> 

<Tyger> 15/15

<Bee 2> 0/8

<Baldur> 15/15

Baldur's eyes widened as Tyger crit the wasp and watched it explode in grand fashion. He was about to compliment her on it when another wasp whizzed in and tried to sting her. He was on it in a heartbeat, his sword, lovingly made and given to him by Tyger, creating a azure line of light bisecting the wasp as the force his blow threw it to the ground so hard it bounced off of it.

"Bee-zinga!"

He smiled for Tyger, though he didn't take his eyes off of <<Wind Wasp #2>>

[iD: 7424 BD: 10]

<Tyger> 

<Bee 2> 

<Baldur> - Hits Wasp #2 for 7 DMG

<Tyger> 15/15

<Bee 2> 1/8

<Baldur> 15/15

Baldur moved up to the Wasp, but wanted to make sure Tyger got a good solid threat lead on it before he attacked. He didn't hit that much harder than her, but one good crit could pull things away. He flanked the creature, waving his scimitar about to try and keep it from gaining and advantage against her.

"You got this babe! They're giant wasps, not tiny ones, so they're not scary at all, right?"

He probably shouldn't poke the bee-nest that was her fear of bugs.

But he just couldn't help it. What if, somewhere on the higher levels, there was a floor of nothing but bug mobs? He was really doing this for her sake,

[iD: 7421 BD: 1]

<Tyger> 

<Bee 1> 

<Baldur> - misses

<Tyger> 14/15

<Bee 1> 4/8

<Baldur> 15/15

Baldur smiled at her as they headed over to where the <<Wind Wasp>> would spawn in large enough numbers for them to farm and generate a chance for <<The Wasp Queen>> to spawn.

"You mean you want this to bee over?" He took her hand somlemnly and squeezed it reassuringly, "It's okay Honey, I'll protect you. Come wasp may."

At this moment he was a bit more scared of her retaliation than any mob's.

The trees were sparse here, leaving enough room to move around easily, but just enough to shade them from the son above. Once the village was out of sight, he began to hear that familiar hum of wasp wings.

Baldur smiled at Tyger as she sat down next to him on the fountain, and saw her eyes absorb the surprisingly beautiful world. Baldur couldn't honestly say that if he had to choose between the two that he wouldn't choose this one... if it wasn't the real world. Unfortunately eventually their bodies would give out, even if they were on life support, so in the interest of living, they had to clear the castle, but that aside, this was a beautiful world, and he wished the real world could be more like this one.

Just... you know... with less death.

Oh the irony.

"Yea, I just wanna grab a few healing pots from the vendor over there."

Staying true to his words, Baldur hopped up off the fountain and wandered over to the kindly looking old man.

"2 Healing potions please, sir." 

As he spoke to the NPC, a menu popped up showing what he had for sale. Baldur winced at the prices, but scrolled down and transferred the 1,000 Col over to pay for the 2 Healing Potions. They'd restore 5 HP each, effectively almost doubling his health at this level. He looked over his shoulder at Tyger.

"Alright, I'm ready."

<<Baldur>> -1,000 Col + (2) Healing Potions